My first flower doll

I just sewed the first of 4 kit dolls I bought at The Urban Craft Center. I think I might go back there tomorrow and get some more. this was SO fun to make, and I'm SO pleased with the results! The problem tonight, though,was that my 3yo saw me working on it, watched the process, and then insisted that he needed to have the little dolly to sleep with, and therefore it will not probably be gifted to my daughter for xmas. oh well, at least it's loved.

my only real complaint is that the dolls all seem to be blond/blue eyed. I might have to change some of them to have the light brown hair/brown eyes of my daughter, or the auburn hair of my husband, or the dark brown hair of me, or the green eyes of my son. Maybe that was just the luck I had grabbing these 4 though, who knows.

here's a back view... it's pretty all the way around!

here she is next to a train, just for scale. (it also made me realize that these dolls will be able to use the thomas train set, they're the perfect size to play in and around the various structures!)

here's a rather blurry close-up of the face of this doll. My nice camera is out in the car, and its way too cold outside to go get it, hence the iPhone pics.

here's the package, just for reference. It came out looking almost exactly like the picture, except that I used white thread to sew the parts together, and the photo shows green. I think I like my white better. lucky for me! (oh, and the red sticker denoted the 75% off sale. so this doll, which was supposed to cost $13something, and is totally worth that full price, wound up costing like $3.5. pretty awesome, imo. the 75% off sale is over, but they're still 30% off, and that's worth it to me, hence the repeat trip I'm planning for tomorrow)

Easy kitty toy

I wrapped about 1/2 a teaspoon of catnip in some roving, stuck some
scraps of wool yarn in, and then needle felted it to stick it all
together. The ball is about the size of a quarter. The cats LOVE it.

Some kiddo Xmas presents

I don't remember if I mentioned it here or not, but a few weeks back the Urban Craft Center celebrated their 1st anniversary with a RIDICULOUS sale. The Weir doll kits were 75% off, which made them all under $10 (some were like $3... I wish I'd gotten more, they would make awesome b-day presents... )

I got the woodsman/maiden kit of fairytale folk, b/c my 3yo son LOVES robin hood... I know waldorf means that its supposed to be neutral, but right now, D wants Robin Hood, and I want Waldorf. Hopefully we'll both be happy with this one...

These are the dolls as they came out. The dude is supposed to have a brown hat with a leaf, but the kit doesn't have enough brown to do a full hat, so I'll have to find my brown felt tomorrow. I added feet-ish bottoms to their legs; I thought the legs in the pattern looked weirdly stumpy. I hate my faces, but overall am pleased with the finished products; hopefully D will love them.

I also got this knitted dwarf kit (which I will be calling a gnome, b/c my son also loves a garden gnome down the street). My daughter just turned 1, and got lots of dolls. My son, of course, now wants to play dolls. I have NO problem with this, except that other people DO have problems with boys carrying around pink baby dolls and caring for them. I'm hoping this gnome gives him something to carry and love without being treated oddly. I love that he loves, and want to nurture that wonderful side of my little boy for as long as I possibly can.

here's the finished product. Isn't it awesome! it fully lived up to my hopes. I switched in a different yarn (scrap) that PERFECTLY matches D's eye color, instead of making blue eyes... this green-y eye color is one of the more unique things about my gorgeous son...

I have one more Weir doll to make, for the Bean this time (I've already made her a little cuddle doll that *goes* with the bigger doll, as yet unmade), and I have 4 kits from De Witte Engel that I'm going to cut out tomorrow. I wish I had more. SOOOOO amazingly beautiful/cute/wonderful.

Clearly I need to make another trip to the Urban Craft Center in January to buy more of these little darlings...

craftiness and inspiration

One of the blogs I most love reading is called Attic24. I LOVE this blog. everysinglething about it makes me happy. it even makes me want to live in a cold rainy place, just so I could maybe be knitting buddies with the author!

anyway, she's inspired me to retake up crochet, because of these bits of gorgeousness.

My prettier snowflakes have already been gifted (to Gram) or stolen (by D), but here's my version... I'm using cotton, instead of wool (because that's the only white I have on hand, and since I'm JUST getting back into it, after a 10 year hiatus, I don't want to practice on expensive new stuff). It doesn't block as nicely, (although, these haven't been blocked AT ALL, which is why the look icky), but it's free, so....

I also really really liked THIS advent calendar, so I made C cut/stain a board, and after I did the stitching, I hot glued the pockets on to the board. Still not sure what to paint at the top... maybe Merry Christmas, or maybe that in some other language... French? Spanish? Gaelic?

I put a little note that said TRAINS! in it, so D got the note, and sounded out the word, with help from both C and me, and then he got to "help" C make the Martha Stewart paper trains, (minus the glitter), (I used a 40%off coupon to get it yesterday at Michaels).

oh, here's a better snowflake... this one is wool, and it has been blocked, so it's much improved...

I made one of the flaky bits extra long, so that I can hang it on the xmas tree without having to use a metal hook, since the bean is going to go crazy on the tree... I'm trying to make it as safe as possible, but....

Putting myself in a holiday mood

I made this rose the other day, just for fun. Wasn't sure what to do
with it, but I think doublestick tape on my bernina might be the
answer, at least until we're closer to Xmas.

My pinecone wreath!

I'm trying to start crafting w/ my older kiddo, so we went on a number
of pinecone hunts, and today I made this, with input/supervision from
himself.

I have lots leftover, so we're making some trees and mice
and ...?

The kitties really like the spiders we find in the cones.
Me, not so much. That's why they're on the porch.

My first scoodie

I followed the tutorial I found here, and made my 1yo a scoodie, in the hope that she'll actually keep it on and be warm this winter.
I added ears, because ears make every baby that much cuter. (the things I've learned from the gap). I used scraps of minkee plush for the inside, and a remnant my mom found for the outside (the ears are minkee scraps too, in two colors)
so far she seems to like it!

fun with dye...

I dyed this onesie a while ago... LOVE the color. it's Dylon (much easier to use then RIT, in my opinion, with better results... It had a flamingo on the front of the package, can't remember the actual name though). I don't like the pastel-y colors that most girls basics are made of... and I don't like the logos/decorations added onto the cool-colored onesies I find. hence the dyeing of white onesies (and shirts, for my son)(but not pink for him, just blues and greens so far)

I'm in LOVE

I have a really hard time coming up with stories off the top of my head, but this could totally help

I'm CRUSHED that this is sold out already, because it's maybe the first piece of "art" I've ever NEEDED with every bit of me.

I think I might need to make my own, with my versions of the characters that I need.

(and not the ones I don't.)

I also now REALLY want a letterpress.

sigh.

Advent

So busy making Xmas presents...